Islamics Kidnap 3 Officials In Beirut

March 23, 1985|United Press International.

BEIRUT — Three French Embassy officials were kidnapped Friday and the Islamic Jihad terror group announced it carried out the abductions to retaliate for a French-Saudi Arabian arms deal opposed by Iran.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres rejected condemnation of the killing of two members of a CBS News camera crew, saying the journalists were standing among hostile guerrillas. CBS called for further investigation.

French Vice Consul Marcel Fontaine was abducted by two bearded gunmen as he walked to work in Beirut Friday, witnesses told police. The other kidnapped employees were identified as chief of protocol Marcel Carton, 62, and his 34- year-old daughter Danielle, a secretary at the mission`s cultural section.

``These abductions represent our discontent with the shameful relations France has with countries of the axis between the countries of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt,`` a caller, identifying himself as a spokesman for the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad organization, told a western news agency`s Beirut office.

``The liberation of the French hostages is conditional on the annihilation of the Franco-Saudi contract to exchange Mirage planes for Saudi oil and a halt to France`s direct and indirect intervention in the war between the Islamic Republic (of Iran) and the regime of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein,`` said the French-speaking caller.

There was no immediate confirmation that France has agreed to provide Mirage warplanes in exchange for Saudi oil.

In Israel, military sources said the CBS crewmen killed Thursday wore no journalistic identification when they were hit by an Israeli tank firing at long range.

``I . . . totally reject any suggestion the incident was anything but a derivative of the tragic situation in Lebanon and the circumstances under which we are forced to carry out our duty to protect the lives of our soldiers,`` Peres told CBS President Ed Joyce in a message released by the Israeli government.

Joyce replied that CBS ``is disappointed that you chose to ingore the testimony of eyewitness journalists on the scene who made it clear that the group fired upon was not armed or engaged in hostitiltes, that the cameras as well as the press markings on the cars were in clear view of the tank crew and that the Israeli attack was entirely unprovoked.``